Life's meanderings, wonderings, inspiration...sending it out to the great "marketplace of ideas."
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Thursday, May 14, 2015

#Firstjobs, workplace productivity, and enjoying the view! 1986

1986

This is what one of the machines looked like

#Firstjobs

I landed my first real job starting out in the cliché
“mailroom” working part time, after dropping out of college at 19.

I loved my part time job running two big #Xerox copy machines,
printing large batches of copy jobs for an insurance company.Starting pay was $4.25 an hour and after six
months, I earned a fifty cent per hour raise.It might not sound like much now, but it was enough to raise my standard
of living to afford $25.00 a week for groceries instead of $20.00 and the increased debt
potential to take on a used car payment.

I timed the two machines just right throughout the day, collating
sets on one side, while collecting copies from the other.Kind of funny to think I was an early adopter
of workplace productivity. J
It was much simpler then, leaning on the tried and true model “common sense.” I like to stay busy…makes the time go by
faster.I found a system that utilized
every spare minute of my work shift, keep both machines running at all times.

Entry -level job benefits were much greater than I could
appreciate at the time.The chance to
look out a 9th floor window at a bustling downtown community on a
sunny day, the ability to “clock in” and “clock out” without having to check in
later from home.And there was a finite
amount of work each day, clearly measurable by the output of my machines.

These days I am no less busy, salaried and no longer hourly,
and feel fulfilled in the work I deliver every day.But it’s a rare occasion that I take the
opportunity to look outside and enjoy a beautiful skyline…and even rarer still
when I don’t “check-in” at the end of the day.

I can appreciate both now.Regardless of where we travel in life, we should always remember to look
back and enjoy the view of where we’ve been.

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About Me

I've been a writer since I was a child, scrawling down sentence fragments and notes on scrap pieces of paper...imagining the future and how I might change the world. Over the years, my writings began to take shape more to maintain my own sanity than any strategic thought process. I kept journals and poetry for years. Imagine opening a time capsule twenty years later only to find relevant, thought provoking essays...once useless journals, now transformed into a new age of blogging and sharing. A box full of treasures to share and re-ignite my creative side of writing. This time capsule's day has come!